Shadow Me Next!

4 - Breaking Misconceptions: the Realities of Healthcare in Corrections with a Registered Nurse | Gaby Garrido, RN

• Ashley Love • Season 1 • Episode 4

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Join us as we explore the compelling world of corrections nursing with Gabby, a dedicated registered nurse who never anticipated working in a prison setting. Her path to nursing was unexpected, sparked by a personal health crisis and the compassionate care of a nurse who changed her perspective on healthcare. Gabby invites us into her journey from aspiring physical therapist to nurse, sharing insights into the educational routes available, the challenges of nursing school, and the immense value of hands-on experience early in a nursing career. Her narrative underscores the essential role of mentorship, the profound impact of supportive clinical instructors, and the strong bonds formed among students facing similar trials.

Gabby’s story offers a unique glimpse into the day-to-day life of a corrections nurse, where the stakes are high, and the responsibilities vast. She sheds light on the complex medical emergencies she faces, the necessity of building supportive relationships with corrections officers, and the delicate balance between providing compassionate care and adhering to stringent security protocols. Through her experiences, Gabby emphasizes the mutual respect that can develop between inmates and healthcare professionals, highlighting the often misunderstood but crucial role of corrections nursing in the broader healthcare system.

In our conversation, we uncover the challenges and rewards of providing healthcare in a correctional setting. Gabby reveals the unexpected consideration and cooperation often shown by inmates, and the critical importance of maintaining professionalism and empathy in such an environment. We also address common misconceptions about working in corrections, emphasizing the need to treat each patient with dignity while maintaining professional boundaries. This episode promises to provide invaluable insights into a field that might be overlooked, yet plays a vital role in the healthcare landscape.

Virtual shadowing is an important tool to use when planning your medical career. At Shadow Me Next! we want to provide you with the resources you need to find your role in healthcare and secure your place in medicine.

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Ashley:

Hello and welcome to Shadow Me Next. This is a podcast where I take you into and behind the scenes of the medical world to provide you with a deeper understanding of the human side of medicine. I'm Ashley, a physician assistant and the creator of Shadow Me Next. It's my goal to introduce you to the incredible members of the healthcare field and to uncover their unique stories, the joys and challenges they face and what drives them in their careers. It's access you want and stories you need, whether you're a pre-med student or simply curious about the healthcare field. I invite you to join me as we take a conversational and personal look into the lives and minds of leaders in medicine.

Ashley:

In this episode of Shadow Me Next, I interview Gaby, a registered nurse currently working at a corrections facility. Gaby shares her journey from aspiring physical therapist to corrections nurse, prompted by a personal health experience with an impactful nurse. She discusses the unique process of entering nursing school, the different levels of nursing, certifications and her day-to-day responsibilities in a high-stakes, high-stress environment. Gaby emphasizes the challenges and rewards of providing medical care to inmates, highlighting the importance of compassion, safety protocols and the supportive rapport with her corrections officers. This episode provides a fascinating insight into a lesser-known yet critical field in nursing. I don't want you to miss a single one of these conversations, so make sure that you subscribe to this podcast, which will automatically notify you when new episodes are dropped, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Shadow Me Next, where I'll give you sneak previews of our upcoming guests. Hey, Gaby, thank you so much for joining me on Shadow Me Next. I am so excited to hear what you have to say. I think this is going to be a really enlightening conversation for us.

Gaby:

Yes, thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here, so I'm so excited.

Ashley:

You are currently an RN at a corrections facility, and I think that is going to be such an interesting conversation about how you arrived at this career and what encouraged you to choose this profession. It's something that I think typical people just don't know a lot about. I think you have a lot of education to provide us today, but we'll start really easy, Gaby tell me a little bit about your background and what inspired you to pursue a career in nursing.

Gaby:

So I always knew that I wanted to help people. I just didn't know in what capacity, like where my life would take me, and I went to Florida State. I got my bachelor's degree exercise science. Because I grew up with sports, I was like, oh, maybe physical therapy would be cool, Something in that avenue. Well, life took a turn for me, Ended up working in Miami in a different field and, long story short, I ended up getting very sick in 2017.

Gaby:

And in the hospital and this is after a bunch of doctor's visits, things like that Nobody could figure out what's going on. It was a nurse that said to me she's like hey, I think this is exactly what's happening to you. We're looking at your blood work, everything like that, and just try these things out, see what happens. And I'm not kidding you, Maybe a month later I felt so much better because I was just it was really bad. I lost a lot of weight in that process. A lot of stuff happened to me. So I said to myself what she did for me, I want to do that for other people. And it just so happened that my husband ended up getting a job that moved us to Arizona, and in the same town that we moved in. There is a nursing program, so that's where I was able to apply and I got into the nursing program and that's where my nursing career began.

Ashley:

I love it when people have personal stories about their experience in healthcare and what drew them in. It gives you a really great perspective to be a patient first and, you know, I hope that nobody has to be a patient. Right, it's scary to be a patient, but it does allow you to really see things from a different perspective, and a perspective that is so important. And, of course, this is kind of ironic, thinking about the patients that you care for now. It's a whole different ballgame, I think, and I'm excited to dive into that, with you Talking about the journey to getting into nursing school. What does that look like? Some of our listeners might not understand what that process to getting into nursing school is, so tell us a little bit about that.

Gaby:

So the way that I did it was a little probably not the same way most people would go about it, but I can talk about both ways. So the general way with nursing school is, generally most programs would either offer a two-year or a four-year program and then probably before, that would probably require about up to about a year of prereqs. For me specifically, since I got my bachelor's degree already, it was a four-year bachelor's but it wasn't in nursing. I already had the prereqs and everything from that bachelor's, so I was able to. I already had the prereqs and everything from that bachelor's, so I was able to use that and go directly into nursing school, which is just two years, to have my associate's degree.

Gaby:

So it really depends on which, which route you want to go. If you have a bachelor's degree already, you can do a two-year program. Or if you want to get another bachelor's because for nursing it requires you to be specifically in nursing you can do a four-year for bachelor's or you can do what I did, which is a two years an associate. You can work and then you can go back into school again and do an online program, uh, for nine months and get your bachelor's, which I that's the one I usually recommend for anybody starting nursing school, because that way you're getting in, because with nursing, just like any health care profession, you have to get your feet wet.

Gaby:

You need to be in person on the job, meeting with patients, doing procedures, whatever it is. You need to do hands-on stuff, because that's going to be so important, like, obviously, school. We know obviously it's very important. Education is amazing, but hands-on stuff is what's going to solidify you in this career. But yeah, so for me that's how I did it. I had my bachelor's degree already and so I went in for a two-year program and I got my RN license, took a board exam and he passed, and that's it. You can start practicing.

Ashley:

Oh, that's really cool.

Gaby:

So you can actually work and be making money while you're in nursing school, yes, so another option you can do too is after one year of nursing school you can go take your LPN. So in nursing you have different levels of nursing right. So usually most people they start off as a CNA. They're certified nursing assistant. They're pretty much everywhere. You can be a CNA working for home health, you can work at a hospital or you can work at nursing homes, things like that.

Gaby:

After a year of nursing school you are now qualified to be an LPN. You go take a boards exam for LPN, you pass and then you can work as an LPN, also, usually in the same places as well. And then after your second year, then you just get to take your boards again as an RN and then after that that's it. So after you are an RN and you don't have to take any more exams to keep your license, the only thing is with RN, obviously. From there then you can go forward. If you want to get your bachelor's, if you want to get your master's and then eventually, if you want to become a nurse practitioner, you can do that. Or you can go another way around you can become a nurse anesthetist. There's a lot of things you can do with the RN degree. Pretty cool.

Ashley:

That is very cool, you know, I think number one I think it's interesting and honestly fantastic that you can work while you're climbing to achieve this goal right. So the debt factor is a little bit less risky than, say I'm thinking like medical school or even PA school, because PA school you can't work while you're in school and that's two years where you are, you're spending a lot of money and you're not making any money, right. So I think that that's a really fantastic option. Also, it seems pretty flexible, right. There's kind of stops built in along the way. If you want to stop at, say, an LPN and kind of work as an LPN for a couple of years, maybe there's something that pops up in your life. Maybe you get married, maybe you have a child, maybe you know you need to move out to take care of a sick parent, let's say. You know it seems like it's a job that can grow with you, right, as much as you want it to.

Gaby:

Yes, and honestly, every single scenario you've listed.

Gaby:

All the people who I went to nursing school with have all been through some kind of case like that, which is why it's so cool and I mean, in my case, I was very, very fortunate that I had a husband that supported me through nursing school so I didn't even have to work. But as somebody who did not work, I also that's why I recommend, highly, highly recommend it, because when I went into the working world it was a little more, you know, cause I didn't have as much hands-on experience as the people who were CNAs and LPNs and things like that during nursing school. So that's the only thing I regret is not doing that. But you know, obviously you work, you're gonna, you'll get your experience right. But I do recommend anybody who's working like if they can, even if it's for dm or if it's a part-time where you're just working once a week or once every other week or whatever, just to have that experience.

Gaby:

I highly, highly recommend it. And, just like you said, it's great and a lot of nurses and facilities that take on nurses or LPN, cna. They understand the work, home life and that kind of balance, so they're usually pretty good about working around your schedule with school and things like that too, so that's awesome.

Ashley:

That is awesome. That is actually a perfect lead in to my next question no-transcript.

Gaby:

So I actually had a clinical instructor. She was my first year second semester clinical instructor and she was absolutely fantastic, and we actually so. In nursing school, every semester you are placed in a different facility, for example. So like our first semester was a nursing home, then after that it was the hospital setting, but in different places. Like you can go OBGYN but no one would be like the emergency room, icu, whatever the case may be, and then they put you in this and you float around.

Gaby:

But this clinical instructor was absolutely incredible because we unfortunately had to see somebody not necessarily pass away, but they were on their deathbed and everything like that and she brought us in and really let us into the perspective of death and dying and everything like that. And seeing that in person versus hearing stories was very different. But it was really nice to have somebody like her who's really really, really experienced nurse I mean, she's been a nurse for 20 years on. Having her really take us in under her wing. It was a great way for us to find peace Instead of being sad, heartbroken. It was a good way to find peace and it was a great way for us to see how a nurse can impact the family and how they can help throughout that process and everything like that.

Gaby:

And so and other than that, you know she was just a great educator in general and she was very approachable and to me, that was really, really big for me, because sometimes you're scared and this in any situation, any scenario, school, whatever Sometimes you're scared to ask questions, you're scared to feel stupid or something like that. Sometimes you're scared to ask questions, you're scared to feel stupid or something like that. But she was definitely always I was always very willing to go and talk to her if I had any questions after an exam or something like that.

Ashley:

So yeah, and then even with that too, it might.

Gaby:

Also my classmates, a lot of us were really like we bonded over. You know it's kind of a trauma bonding right. Anybody if you work healthcare or anything like that you know there's always you kind of trauma bond with each other and I think all of us pushed each other to the end and we were all. We've all still good friends today, so it was that was really cool to have that.

Ashley:

I'm so glad to hear that it is so supportive and it's so nice to have a mentor in situations like that, situations that you've never been in. There's going to be a thousand of those in medicine and I am sure that you will tell us about some in your current job coming up you know a thousand situations where you've never found yourself before and watching a medical provider break bad news on TV completely different and it is very scary.

Ashley:

And you are the leader in the room and they look to you in those situations and I think having somebody whose footsteps you can follow, at least initially, and then whose actions you can copy later on, it's such a huge testament to medicine.

Ashley:

And I think that's where, like you said, that hands-on training is so important. Because you can read how to be compassionate in a book but until you see that playing itself out in real life, you'll never fully grasp all of the emotions that go into it and all of this really the strength that you have to have as a medical provider to provide support to those patients and I think especially nursing, it's incredibly personal. In nursing, you know, I think occasionally doctors or NPs or PAs can kind of walk in sympathetically and empathetically provide the diagnosis, but they also can kind of walk in sympathetically and empathetically provide the diagnosis, but they also can kind of escape too. You know they give the bad news and then they step back out. But nursing you're in there with them constantly and you are really providing the most intimate personal care and healthcare that there is. So I'm so glad that you got to experience that with your, with your mentor. That's great.

Gaby:

Oh, yes, yeah, we. We can go into plenty of stories about things that I had to, I've had to witness, at least in the hospital. That was really where I really got to get my feet wet with those kinds of scenarios.

Ashley:

So in nursing school, is it more hands-on learning or is it more book learning, or is it a combination of both?

Gaby:

So it is a combination of both. I would say maybe like 70% book and then about 30% hands-on. So they really, really, really are pushing you to focus on the board exam.

Ashley:

And the board exam, Gaby, is that. Is it the NCLEX?

Gaby:

The NCLEX. Thank you. I don't know if we can tell random stories, but it's very scary. It is very stressful. I cried after the fact and I got pulled over and got a ticket.

Ashley:

No you didn't.

Gaby:

So that was really fun. The officer pulled over and he's like you know, you're speeding right. And I'm tears in my eyes. I'm like sorry, I just took a big exam. He's like uh-huh, okay, here you go and still gives me a ticket. But thankfully thankfully funny story I came home and I found out I passed and my husband goes to me. He's like well, that's awesome, because now you're, now, you're done, your new career can pay for your ticket.

Ashley:

You're going to start off in more debt.

Gaby:

Yeah, and for anybody out there is going to take any board exam. As you know, it's like it's very intimidating to take any board exam. As you know it's like it's very intimidating, but you go and you know what you know and don't ever give up, cause you can say you can retake it if you need to. I have a lot of friends that we had to retake it a couple of times but they still did it and they're amazing nurses.

Ashley:

I think this is important to remember. I'm so glad you brought up the board exams because we really haven't talked about that very much. But in medicine, any medical provider that you see has passed some type of a board exam. Right, and the exams are important because they are tests a standardized test that tells the world that we know enough right. But at the end of the day, it is a standardized test, and the board exam is not going to tell you how compassionate of a provider you are, is not going to tell you how compassionate of a provider you are. It's not going to tell you how experienced you are when it comes to diagnosing a patient and then explaining that diagnosis or helping a patient understand their condition. It's just a test and you do have to pass, but it is not going to tell you what kind of provider you're going to be, and I think that's the biggest thing to remember Exactly.

Gaby:

Yeah, don't stress over the little things. You know. You get everything done and you are the. You can become the best person you are like as you go through your career. But, yeah, 100%, a lot of people that I know that aren't the best at school are the best, some of the best people you want. Those are the ones you want behind you If anything happens to you bad car accident, whatever the case those are the people you want there by your bedside because they're going to protect you.

Gaby:

They're going to, and, yeah, they're going to get you better.

Ashley:

I love that. I think that's so great. Well, let's, let's get to the part where everybody is so excited about right Hearing what life as a corrections nurse is all about. Tell us about what your day looks like just from a bird's eye view. Every day is different, of course, but what is your, what's your pattern? What's your rhythm? Do you work days, Do you work nights? How many patients do you have? Stuff like that?

Gaby:

So I work. I am a night shift correctionist and my schedule I work three days a week, four days off. So anybody in the nursing world by the way, most places you usually work three days, three, 12. So it's really cool, um, but for me, I work Saturday, sunday and Monday evenings. I work from 6 PM to 6 30 AM in the morning and what I do is I get to work around 5 30, I will clock in and what's happening at that point is for.

Gaby:

So in corrections in the prison they're on a scheduled time. So the inmates are usually let out on the yard or anything like that, usually around six in the morning, and the yard closes at 7 30 pm every single day, which means when the yard closed, which means they go back to their housing unit and then they can hang out there and then they'll go to sleep eventually. But, um, so for me, because I get there at 5 30, I'm there for the last leg before everything closes. So, depending on the day and depending on the nurses who are there, I either will help with the evening med pass, help with what we call H&R. So that's like our the best way to describe it it's like our appointment.

Gaby:

So in the prison. It's run like during the day, it's run like a doctor's office. So the inmates will put in anything with symptoms, symptoms like my ear is hurting, I'm having a runny nose, I feel feverish. Whatever the case, they get put in on the nurse line and they're seen by the nurses. So I don't necessarily see a lot of inmates like a day shift nurse do in that case, and I'll explain what more what I see at night. But okay, so then let's say the yard closes at 730. Usually by that time we get our appointments done. Med pass is usually done by time and then I that's it. So the inmates go back to their housing units and then what I do after that is I do checks around the office and I just sure everything's the oxygen tanks are good. I do some paperwork, some audits in the prison.

Gaby:

Every single thing is counted right good yeah you don't need someone around with a needle or you know some or any of that kind of stuff, a scalpel, things like that. So my job is I count all the sharps and all the narcotics every single night, that I'm there twice a night, and I make sure, obviously, that everything in the medical building is checked, the EKG machine is working fine, our AED is up to date. It's good to go. I do all that stuff. Okay. So at that point when every around 830 at night now I am completely by myself as medical staff, everybody leaves for the day. I am the only medical staff for the entire complex.

Ashley:

How many Debbie?

Gaby:

About 2000. Oh my gosh, um, about 2000. Oh my gosh. So I'll put it in perspective. So we have the prison that I'm at has four units. So you have a level three unit, which usually means the crimes are usually that's like murder, life sentences, things like that, kidnapping, whatever the case. Then you have we have a level two unit, which is more like they had drugs on them, minor crimes. And then we do have another unit that is a sex offender unit. We do have one that's separate from other ones, and then we also have one that's called the medical detention unit, which is where people are usually placed in there if they like misbehaved, so they got into a fight, they were caught with drugs on them, things like that they get put in there and it's like that's like one where it's like a cell by cell. I call it the slides, the lamb unit, I don't know if you've ever watched that movie before.

Gaby:

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like where they it's just like the cell and they're looking at you through there. I have to wear a stab vest when I go into that unit.

Ashley:

What's a stab?

Gaby:

vest. Obviously, a stab vest is like a plate carrier that officers wear things like that. It's kind of like that that I have to wear when I go in there, gosh Gaby.

Ashley:

Okay, High, high stress high stakes.

Gaby:

This is intense. It sounds really intense. It's about 2000 inmates and I'm by myself. So at night my job is to be there for any emergencies, anything like that happens. I'm the one that has to respond to all the units, do all that stuff, and my also job as well is around five in the morning. I also do MedPath at another unit, so that's about 40. Yeah, that's about 40 guys. I think it'd be a little less now. It's about 30 people that I usually see in the mornings, everything like that, doing blood pressure checks, medicine, insulin. So that is like my day-to-day life there at the prison.

Ashley:

It all sounds high stress. How do you balance? I guess we'll keep it general and this is kind of a question for both. But how do you balance providing care with all of the security and safety protocols of working in a prison? I mean, that's things that the average nurse will never have to consider anywhere else.

Gaby:

So let me tell you something Inmates, for the most part, a lot of them are really just, they really do just want help and they are very, very, very, very considerate. I would even see, honestly say, better than a lot of people that I dealt with in the hospital. They're more considerate to you as a medical staff than other people are. So people don't realize that right, because you're looking, if you look at an outside perspective oh, this guy murdered somebody, oh, he did this, he did that. Okay, fine, he did that in his past. But if he knows that you're there willing to help him, he knows, he knows that and he understands that. So, for example, I'll tell you with me the way. It's been really cool because I've built a rapport with the corrections officers. So, and they understand and they know. You know when medical is needed to be brought in. Let's say, an emergency happens and somebody like um, I've had somebody who had overdose, okay, and and it happened recently where somebody had overdosed in their, their run or where they sleep at with all the beds. And when I walk in, the corrections officers know, hey, medical is walking in and the inmates they make way for you and they know because I'm coming in with a stretcher. I'm coming with stuff. They make way and they don't give me any grief. They make sure, and they make sure I'm good, like they don't. There's nobody that comes and attacks you. They might say something here and there, but usually not that big of a deal. You can block them out.

Gaby:

But with the corrections officers they understand that and the corrections officer they make sure they're always with you. You're never, ever by yourself with an inmate. Let's say, for example, with HIPAA reasons, if an inmate has a question for you or needs to speak to you about something like, they will be in the room in the office with you or they'll bring them into interrogation room or whatever, with the door slightly closed, but an officer is always right there. So if something were to happen, I'm never by myself. It makes it. It definitely makes a huge, huge difference.

Gaby:

I'm I am very fortunate that the prison that I'm at is a really good prison. I love my job, I love the guys and girls that I work with, everybody has a good rapport, everything like that. But you know some prisons you might not have that. So that's the thing you have to be careful of. Now. We're going to like a life lesson. If you ever feel uncomfortable or you feel like the corrections officer as a nurse, if they're not taking care of you or they're not there for you, you need to leave that job and find another one, because there are prisons that do that, where they might leave people stranded, and you never want to be in that situation no-transcript.

Gaby:

Yep, exactly, your life, your sanity, everything is worth way more than what, like what they're paying you or whatever the case may be. You know it's always something better out there for you. You just have to be willing to, to take the chance to leave and corrections. Because I've talked to people who work on the other side of these kinds of things and and they say, like this place is the best, like one of the best prisons they've ever worked at, and so I'm very fortunate that was my first one and but I'll be here for a while, like I do love it a lot, but yeah, that really really, really helps out with that stress, environment, everything like that.

Gaby:

And as a medical professional there, you get to know these guys a lot. So the most part when you're doing med pass all the time and a lot of these guys are on chronic care right, so they need to be seen for kidney issues, diabetes, things like that where it's an ongoing thing. You get to know your unit just like you would in a doctor's office. You get to know your patients and once you start building a rapport with these guys, it makes it easier and they look out for you too. They really do. If somebody who's new on the yard comes in or something like that and it's kind of making a scene, those guys will step in and say, hey, she's here to help you, so you need to calm down. They will like the officers don't have to do anything, the inmates will do it, like they take care of each other, let them do their job and whatever. And then you do that help calm down the situation and everything like that. That's amazing.

Ashley:

I love that. I'm so glad, you know, because I think I think as medical providers, we chose this job to a certain degree because of the rapport and the respect in the community that I think we have, At least. At least, I think that's a very honest reason why, when I reflect on why I chose my career in medicine, it is largely because I feel like I can serve my community as a type of leader. I feel like I can serve my community as a type of leader, and your community is a prison and the inmates are showing you as much, if not more like you said earlier respect than perhaps you would get if you're working in a hospital or in a clinic from the everyday person. So I'm really glad that you're experiencing that, even in a population where people might think that that's not as common, it sounds like it's more common. Actually. Yes, it is. So you mentioned diabetes. You mentioned high blood pressure, Some of the chronic conditions that you treat, Gaby.

Ashley:

What are some other emergencies? Overdose, of course. I'm sure that's rampant. Has there been some more emergencies that you've had to?

Gaby:

run solo as the only medical provider for 2,000 people. Yes, so for me, yeah, the biggest ones, unfortunately, have been overdose, under the influence, whatever you want to call it. Everything like that has been pretty big on the yard. Now, actually, for us, a pretty big thing is actually heart problems. That's a very big thing because, unfortunately, a lot of these guys who are in the prison system were all on drugs.

Gaby:

I've been on drugs, you know. Cocaine use, anything like that, you know, can affect your heart really bad, especially if you've been doing it since you were young. And so I have a lot of younger guys who are coming in with chest pain, some of them having real heart attacks, wow, and things like that. And yeah, so it's just for me what I have to do is I have my ekg there. I get ekgs, I'll start a line on them, things like that, and I get them out to the hospital. So my job is stabilize, get their vitals, get what they have to do for them, and then I get the ambulance. I get an ambulance to come in. They take them to whatever hospital you know they deem is better for that specific case. Um, but yeah, no, heart issues are really big liver we have a lot of hep c.

Gaby:

Yeah, with hep c and any kind of liver, um, you know, fatty liver, anything like that liver failure, anything like that liver failure, things like that, a lot of these guys. For them specifically, they never had anybody that cared about them, or really specifically medically. Most of these guys had never been to a doctor before until meeting us for the first time. Most of them had never had to deal with anything medically before until they got to prison, or they never had the funds to go to a doctor. And since they're in prison, it's they get the state, it's funds that you know and they can. They can finally get seen for their heart problems or their liver or whatever.

Gaby:

So, yeah, it's a lot of them and it can be very intimidating for them. I mean, can you imagine if you're you're 45, I've never been to a doctor before? Can you imagine that? And now you're first, you know it's now here at a prison where you're scared out of your mind because something is going on with you and you don't know what it is. And so that's where we step in and we take compassion, we sit with them, I try to explain to them things that are going on and get them to the right people. We schedule them with providers, gi doctors, with cardiologists, with whoever they need to go to. But that's a big thing too is dentistry. A lot of people have never been to a dentist before. It's been very rare that you had a guy that said, hey, this is annoying, I don't want to get no. A lot of them always come back and they thank us for what we've done, which is crazy.

Gaby:

Yeah, that to me cause that, coming from the hospital there, it was such a big turnaround. I was like, wow, I think this is like like what I'm being thanked for my job, but this is amazing, okay.

Ashley:

You know, Gaby, that's so funny because my next question I was going to ask you is what misconceptions you think people have about working in corrections nursing, and that seems like it's a big one, right, yeah?

Gaby:

And you know what? Here's the thing Don't put your guard down, right. When I'm going into the medical detention unit. So when I walk in there, I know I'll hear some words, I'll hear something being thrown around, whatever. But when you start actually talking to them and answering their question, they calm down right, because they're just, they're just stressed out, they're they're wild up, they're anxious, things like that.

Gaby:

But it's a big, big point I make to everybody Never disclose any information to them about your personal life. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever tell them anything about, like, what's going on with you or anything like that, because they will use that information, because they can. A lot of guys will do that. But I will tell you that with these guys, for the most part you can't look at them as the crimes that they committed.

Gaby:

If you're going to work in healthcare and you know this, even if working like, if you're going to be an emergency room nurse, if there's a shooting and it's the guy doing the shooting who comes to you, you better be ready to. You're going to take care of that guy, right? So, like, you have to take away that thought process out of your head, cause a lot of these guys have done some really, really bad crimes, but to me they're just a person. When they come to me, it's just a person. It's a patient. I'll do everything in my power to make sure they're good, they're taken care of, and then I send them on their way. But you have to be very careful. It's that line. They can be very cool, they respect you, but also remember that they can also be very manipulative, depending on the situation.

Ashley:

So you have to keep your distance but do your job respectfully. I think that's perfect, Gaby, and I think that in a way, even if we don't work in corrections, in a way we still have to embody that mindset. As healthcare providers and I think sometimes it's quite obvious, especially with the patients that you are treating you do have to maintain a certain level of professional distance, is what I like to call it right. You can show them compassion and you can show them true support and even, dare I say, love and kindness every single day, but you don't have to open yourself. End of the day, I do have to protect my mental health and my physical health, and that's because we have a job to do and our job does not end when we walk out of that patient room or that patient cell or that hospital bedside. Our job continues and we have a duty to serve all of these patients, in your case, 2,000.

Ashley:

You know, in my case maybe 24 a day. But ultimately we have to protect ourselves and I'm so glad to hear you say that, because I think we are doing a disservice to future healthcare providers if we don't at least address that and say you know, you are important too and it's okay to say things like that. That's not unrealistic. It too.

Gaby:

And and it's okay to say things like that, that's not unrealistic, exactly, yeah, you have to take care of yourself. How can you take care of anybody else if you're not taking care of yourself? Right and yeah. And then in the prison, in the prison system, you really have to be on your P's and Q's and don't bring anything there, because those guys will talk back to you. They can do it. They know how to, they know how to banter, they know how to. You know they're witty, right? That's another misconception. You know a lot of people might think, oh, that might be stupid if they credit knowledge. You guys are incredibly intelligent, incredibly intelligent. Just make sure you're level-headed, that you're good to go and you take care of yourself mentally and you go in and you can take care of them because they need so, so, so much caring, because they never had that in their lives.

Ashley:

Well, I have one more question after this. But before we get to that, we do have this quality question segment that I love to add in, and it's a question that somebody has asked you in an interview that has just stuck with you. Either it was really hard or it was totally out of left field, but it's stuck with you for a certain reason. Do you have a question like that that you can share, you know?

Gaby:

for me a lot of the interviews that I had. It's all been pretty pretty much the same, I think, for me. The one that really got me was when I was applying to work for the PCU and they asked me what was the hardest challenge you ever faced, and are you willing to face something even more?

Ashley:

difficult than that. I would love to see people's faces when you ask them that, right, because I think a lot of us are expecting what was the most challenging thing you faced in your life? Or tell me about a time that was really, really hard or that didn't turn out the way you expected, but then to kind of turn it on its head and say are you prepared to face that and more in this career?

Gaby:

Yes, To me. It felt like I was about to go. I don't know if anyone knows the Lord of the Rings reference, but I felt like I was going to go to Mordor. I was like what is this? What am I getting into? I'm about to go on a journey here an adventure.

Ashley:

Thank you for sharing that one. That's a fantastic question. Okay, so to wrap things up, Gaby, this has been such. I could talk to you for 15 hours, you know that, but you got a night shift to go to. But what advice would you give to new nurses who are just starting out in their careers?

Gaby:

What I recommend for all new nurses especially ones that are like me that didn't really get a lot of hands-on stuff work in a department that's very generalized, where you're putting IVs in, you're drawing blood, you're seeing different kinds of disease processes, because it's going to get you well-rounded a little more rounded for when you want to specialize. So for me personally, it helped me out a lot because I have to start IVs a lot, I have to do EKGs, I'm seeing different disease processes, things like that, but I was able to bring in my knowledge to the corrections side of it. So that's 100% what I would recommend you need to see everything.

Ashley:

That's fantastic advice, Gaby. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. I feel like I have learned so much and even more. I feel like I have so much to learn about corrections, medicine and serving a population that perhaps is overlooked, and I think that if we could find even that one person who, like you mentioned, perhaps has never gone to a physician or an NP or a PA or had the pleasure of being cared for by a nurse before, if we can find that one person in our practice and pour into them and give them the care that they need, I think, god, how much better would this world be. I think it would be amazing.

Gaby:

Yes, I 100% agree with that and we need corrections. Nurses out there. Honestly, it's a very rewarding career for me 100%.

Ashley:

And I I'm so glad to hear that.

Gaby:

I love it and I will be sticking with corrections for as long as I can.

Ashley:

Amazing. Well, Gaby, thank you so much for joining us today. On Shadow Me Next. It's been a pleasure. Oh, thank you so much for having me.

Gaby:

I really appreciate it. It was great talking to you, it was great hearing from you and hopefully we'll talk soon.

Ashley:

Thank you so very much for listening to this episode of Shadow Me Next. If you liked this episode or if you think it could be useful for a friend. Please liked this episode, or if you think it could be useful for a friend, please subscribe and invite them to join us next Monday, as always. If you have any questions, let me know on Facebook or Instagram Access. You want stories you need. You're always invited to shadow me next.

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Ashley Love

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